tion for Byron most likely
involved the young poet in this scrape. The tenor of this
production, especially its audacious allusion to the murder of
the emperor Paul, father of the then reigning Tsar, assuredly
deserved, according to aristocratic ideas, the deportation to
Siberia which was said to have been prepared for the author.
The intercession of Karamzine and Joukovski procured a commutation
of his sentence. Strangely enough, Pushkin appeared anxious to
deceive the public as to the real cause of his sudden disappearance
from the capital; for in an Ode to Ovid composed about this time
he styles himself a "voluntary exile." (See Note 4 to this volume.)

During the four succeeding years he made numerous excursions amid
the beautiful countries which from the basin of the Euxine--and
amongst these the Crimea and the Caucasus. A nomad life passed
amid the beauties of nature acted powerfully in developing his
poetical genius. To this period he refers in the final canto of
_Eugene Oneguine_ (st. v.), when enumerating the various influences
which had contributed to the formation of his Muse:

Then, the far capital forgot,
Its splendour and its blandishments,
In poor Moldavia cast her lot,
She visited the humble tents
Of migratory gipsy hordes.

During these pleasant years of youth he penned some of his most
delightful poetical works: amongst these, _The Prisoner of the
Caucasus, The Fountain of Baktchiserai_, and the _Gipsies_. Of the
two former it may be said that they are in the true style of the
_Giaour_ and the _Corsair_. In fact, just at that point of time
Byron's fame--like the setting sun--shone out with dazzling lustre
and irresistibly charmed the mind of Pushkin amongst many others.
The _Gipsies_ is more original; indeed the poet himself has been
identified with Aleko, the hero of the tale, which may well be
founded on his own personal adventures without involving the guilt
of a double murder. His undisguised admiration for Byron doubtless
exposed him to imputations similar to those commonly levelled
against that poet. But Pushkin's talent was too genuine for him to
remain long subservient to that of another, and in a later period
of his career he broke loose from all trammels and selected a line
peculiarly his own. Before leaving this stage in our narrative we
may point out the fact that during the whole of this period of
comparative seclusion the poet was indefatigably occupied in